Subject: bbc: Militias kill with Indonesian guns
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>[Excerpt: He said the military
had already allowed him to use M-16 rifles captured earlier from anti-Indonesian rebels.
Mr Lopez then described how he led an attack on 26 January near the town of Suai on what
he believed was a rebel post, killing six people, including a pregnant woman and a
15-year-old schoolboy.
Friday, February 5, 1999 Published at 14:47 GMT
Militias kill with Indonesian guns
Thousands of villagers are fleeing, fearing a return to civil war
By Jonathan Head in Jakarta
Further evidence has emerged of close links between the Indonesian army and
paramilitary groups responsible for the killing of civilians in East Timor.
The commander of one of the most powerful paramilitary groups admitted using guns
provided by the Indonesian army in an attack on a rebel post in which six people,
including civilians, were killed.
Kansio Lopez told the BBC that he led last month's attack on the position, using
automatic weapons supplied less than four weeks previously by the army.
The attack prompted an exodus of six-thousand refugees from the area.
On Tuesday the Armed Forces Commander, General Wiranto, denied giving guns recently to
civilian militias.
Sparking civil war
Pro-independence campaigners in East Timor have accused Indonesia of trying to provoke
a civil war.
Despite its offer of possible independence for East Timor last week, Indonesia has been
dogged by accusations of insincerity.
That now appears to be borne out by confirmation that the Indonesian armed forces are
supplying guns to militias who are killing civilians.
Kansio Lopez heads a pro-Indonesian militia called Mahidi. He told the BBC that he
received 20 Chinese-made SKS rifles from the local military headquarters at the end of
December.
Suai attack
He said the military had already allowed him to use M-16 rifles captured earlier from
anti-Indonesian rebels. Mr Lopez then described how he led an attack on 26 January near
the town of Suai on what he believed was a rebel post, killing six people, including a
pregnant woman and a 15-year-old schoolboy.
Two days earlier his group killed another four people suspected of working with the
rebels. Mr Lopez is unapologetic about these deaths. He describes them as part of a life
and death struggle to stop East Timor becoming independent.
But the thousands of refugees who have fled from the area say the Mahidi militia is
conducting a reign of terror, a view supported by the Church and local aid workers.
Kansio Lopez's account reveals an alarming degree of co-operation between the
unofficial militias and the Indonesian army at a time when diplomats are trying to find a
peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor.
Mr Lopez is also currently a commander of the official army-trained civil defence
force.
Until December, he says, he also worked for the Indonesian Department of Justice. After
the attack on Suai, he said the army asked him to give back his guns but he refused
because, in his words, he needed to be ready to fight a civil war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/indonesia/latest_news/newsid_273000/ 273158.stm
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